Indigenous Research Methods
Below are a selection of resources to help you consider Indigenous perspectives and incorporate Indigenous scholars within your research. Not all of these scholars are in agreement - which is to be expected! Indigenous people are not monolithic, and encompass a variety of perspectives and experiences.
Citing Indigenous Knowledge
In traditional Western citation systems, written knowledge is positioned as valid, and other knowledge transmissions such as oral history or storytelling are considered unreliable, despite being used for centuries by Indigenous cultures around the globe. Increasingly, Indigenous scholars are creating new frameworks that acknowledge the validity of ancestral knowledge, and the relationships between peoples and lands. Below are some resources that can help you rethink power dynamics around Indigenous peoples and research. Regardless of what citation style you use, remember that citations can be a form of kinship and respect, and it is vital to acknowledge where your information came from, and whose work contributed to it.
- Indigenous Citation Styles
- Lorisia MacLeod (James Cree Nation) adapted APA and MLA styles to cite oral teachings from Elders and Knowledge Keepers:
- APA in-text citation and reference list
- MLA in-text citation and reference list
- APA 7 still recommends that oral histories and Elders are cited as "personal communication" (Section 8.9 of the Publication Manual)
- Indigenous Material Reference Guide — Harvard University of Technology Sydney (UTS)
- Indigenous Referencing Prototype — Nathan Sentance (Wiradjuri)
- Lorisia MacLeod (James Cree Nation) adapted APA and MLA styles to cite oral teachings from Elders and Knowledge Keepers:
Books
Below is a selection of books in our collection which demonstrate Indigenous approaches to research, including relationality, experiential learning, and data sovereignty.
Arts-Based Methods for Decolonising Participatory Research by Call Number: HM520ISBN: 1000392538Publication Date: 2021In an effort to challenge the ways in which colonial power relations and Eurocentric knowledges are reproduced in participatory research, this book explores whether and how it is possible to use arts-based methods for creating more horizontal and democratic research practices.
Decolonizing Methodologies by Call Number: GN380 .S65 2021ISBN: 9781786998132Publication Date: 2021To the colonized, the term 'research' is conflated with European colonialism; the ways in which academic research has been implicated in the throes of imperialism remains a painful memory. This essential volume explores intersections of imperialism and research - specifically, the ways in which imperialism is embedded in disciplines of knowledge and tradition as 'regimes of truth.'
Decolonizing Research by ISBN: 9781786994608Publication Date: 2019From Oceania to North America, indigenous peoples have created storytelling traditions of incredible depth and diversity. The term 'indigenous storywork' has come to encompass the sheer breadth of ways in which indigenous storytelling serves as a historical record, as a form of teaching and learning, and as an expression of indigenous culture and identity.
Digital Storytelling in Indigenous Education by Call Number: LC1099.5.C2ISBN: 9781351967488Publication Date: 2019Exploring the relationship between the role of education and Indigenous survival, Digital Storytelling in Indigenous Education is an ethnographic exploration of how digital storytelling can be part of a broader project of decolonization of individuals, their families, and communities.
Elements of Indigenous Style: A Guide for Writing By and About Indigenous Peoples by Call Number: PN147ISBN: 9781550597196Publication Date: 2018Elements of Indigenous Style offers Indigenous writers and editors—and everyone creating works about Indigenous Peoples—the first published guide to common questions and issues of style and process. Everyone working in words or other media needs to read this important new reference, and to keep it nearby while they’re working.
Indigenous Data Sovereignty and Policy by ISBN: 9780429273957Publication Date: 2020This book examines how Indigenous Peoples around the world are demanding greater data sovereignty, and challenging the ways in which governments have historically used Indigenous data to develop policies and programs.
Indigenous Data Sovereignty: Toward an Agenda by Call Number: KU519.I64ISBN: 9781760460310Publication Date: 2016Premised on the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, this book argues that indigenous peoples have inherent and inalienable rights relating to the collection, ownership and application of data about them, and about their lifeways and territories. As the first book to focus on indigenous data sovereignty, it asks: what does data sovereignty mean for indigenous peoples, and how is it being used in their pursuit of self-determination?
Indigenous Identity and ResistanceCall Number: GN380ISBN: 9780947522407Publication Date: 2017Indigenous Identity and Resistance brings together the work of Indigenous Studies scholars working in Canada, New Zealand and the Pacific in research conversations that transcend the imperial boundaries of the colonial nations in which they are located.
Indigenous Pathways into Social Research by Call Number: GN380 .I5289 2013ISBN: 9781598746952Publication Date: 2013A new generation of indigenous researchers is taking its place in the world of social research in increasing numbers. These scholars provide new insights into communities under the research gaze and offer new ways of knowing to traditional scholarly models.
Indigenous research: Theories, practices, and relationships by Call Number: E76.7ISBN: 9781773380865Publication Date: 2018This ground-breaking edited collection provides readers with concrete and in-depth examples of how to overcome the challenges of Indigenous research with respect to Indigenous worldviews, epistemologies, and ontology. In collaboration with their communities, and with guidance from Elders and other traditional knowledge keepers, each contributor links their personal narrative of Indigenous research to current discussions and debates.
Indigenous Research Methodologies by Call Number: GN380 .C494 2012ISBN: 9781412958820Publication Date: 2011Author Bagele Chilisa has written the first research methods textbook that situates research in a larger, historical, cultural, and global context with case studies from around the globe to make very visible the specific methodologies that are commensurate with the transformative paradigm of research and the historical and cultural traditions of indigenous peoples.
Indigenous Statistics by Call Number: GN380 .W35 2013ISBN: 9781611322934Publication Date: 2013In the first book ever published on Indigenous quantitative methodologies, Maggie Walter and Chris Andersen open up a major new approach to research across the disciplines and applied fields.
Research as resistance: Revisiting critical, indigenous, and anti-oppressive approaches by Call Number: E78.C2 R484 2015ISBN: 9781551308821Publication Date: 2015Research as Resistance brings together the theory and practice of anti-oppressive approaches to social science research. Emphasizing meaningful involvement of research subjects in the research processes and critical reflexivity, this book describes both theoretical foundations and practical applications of socially just research. The book covers some of the ontological and epistemological considerations involved in such research, including researcher positionality, and offers examples across a range of methodologies, including storytelling and Indigenous research.
Research Is Ceremony by Call Number: GN380 .W554 2008ISBN: 9781552662816Publication Date: 2008Indigenous researchers are knowledge seekers who work to progress Indigenous ways of being, knowing and doing in a modern and constantly evolving context. This book describes a research paradigm shared by Indigenous scholars in Canada and Australia, and demonstrates how this paradigm can be put into practice.
Research Justice by Call Number: HM831ISBN: 9781447324638Publication Date: 2015Research Justice (RJ) is a strategic framework and methodological intervention that seeks to transform structural inequities in research. Research Justice: Methodologies for Social Change builds upon the methodological frameworks developed by the national non-profit organization, DataCenter Research for Justice and is the first book to take a radical approach to socially just, community centred research.
Indigenous Academic Journals
Below are a selection of academic journals which centre and publish Indigenous scholars, storytellers, and perspectives.
- AlterNative
AlterNative: An International Journal of Indigenous Peoples is a peer-reviewed interdisciplinary journal. We aim to present Indigenous worldviews and scholarly research from native Indigenous perspectives from around the world. - The American Indian QuarterlyAmerican Indian Quarterly has earned its reputation as one of the dominant journals in American Indian studies by presenting the best and most thought-provoking scholarship in the field. AIQ is a forum for diverse voices and perspectives spanning a variety of academic disciplines. The common thread is AIQ’s commitment to publishing work that contributes to the development of American Indian studies as a field and to the sovereignty and continuance of American Indian nations and cultures. In addition to peer-reviewed articles, AIQ features reviews of books, films, and exhibits.
- Australian Aboriginal StudiesAustralian Aboriginal Studies (AAS) is a quality multidisciplinary journal that exemplifies the vision where the world’s indigenous knowledge and cultures are recognised, respected and valued. It encourages contributions that articulate the ways in which research approaches and methodologies are underpinned by ethical decision-making.
- Indigenous Peoples' Journal of Law, Culture, and ResistanceMission: We are the Indigenous Peoples’ Journal of Law, Culture & Resistance and we are here to serve as a law journal that publishes writings concerning Native Peoples’ cultures, traditions, and histories. We publish with the goal of bettering and advancing Native Nations and Indian People. Our Journal is here to actively resist against the insidious effects of colonialism, racism, and the subjugation of Native Peoples. We promote Native scholarship, both student and faculty, and support Native scholars and voices. We partner with Native communities to publish writings that will bring attention to their specific situations and legal battles. We discuss any and all legal struggles faced by Native Nations and Indian People and in so doing actively seek out publishable material from the traditional as well as the intellectual perspective.
- International Journal of Critical Indigenous StudiesThe International Journal of Critical Indigenous Studies disseminates scholarship across the Humanities, Social Sciences, Health Sciences, Law and Education in the field of Indigenous Studies. Indigenous scholars from around the world share common experiences of colonisation. Our collective politics have been shaped by our intellectual traditions which inform our work within the academy.
- International Journal of Indigenous Health
The International Journal of Indigenous Health (IJIH) was established to advance knowledge and understanding to improve Indigenous health. The Journal seeks to bring knowledge from diverse intellectual traditions together with a focus on culturally diverse Indigenous voices, methodologies and epistemology. - Journal of American Indian EducationFounded in 1961, the Journal of American Indian Education (JAIE) is a refereed journal featuring original scholarship on education issues of American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, and Indigenous peoples worldwide, including First Nations, Māori, Aboriginal/Torres Strait Islander peoples, and Indigenous peoples of Latin America, Scandinavia, Africa, and others.
- MAI Journal
MAI Journal is an open access journal that publishes multidisciplinary peer-reviewed articles that critically analyse and address Indigenous and Pacific issues in the context of Aotearoa New Zealand. MAI Journal publishes two issues per year, June and December. MAI Journal is only published online. - NAIS: Journal of the Native American and Indigenous Studies AssociationAs the journal of the Native American and Indigenous Studies Association, Native American and Indigenous Studies (NAIS) is based in North America but seeks to bridge the distances across the Indigenous world. The editors of NAIS are committed to creating a dynamic intellectual space for the communication and dissemination of excellent scholarship related to Indigenous Studies.
- Oshkaabewis Native JournalPublished since 1979, the Oshkaabewis Native Journal has served as an interdisciplinary forum for significant contributions to knowledge about the Ojibwe language.